Ondonga council to investigate women’s visit to salt pan

The Ondonga Traditional Authority will investigate a recent visit by female regional councillors to a salt pan in Oshikoto, maintaining that women are traditionally prohibited from entering such sites.

Ondonga Traditional Council chairperson John Walenga said King Fillemon Shuumbwa Nangolo had instructed him to inform the councillors that their visit contravened established cultural procedures.

The incident occurred during a joint benchmarking visit by the Oshikoto and Khomas regional councils to Omuntele Constituency on 13 and 14 August. The delegation toured several development projects, including the Omuntele salt pan.

Walenga, who also raised the matter in a video circulating on social media, told Namibian Sun on Tuesday that modernity should not be allowed to erode established cultural practices.

He said members of the Ondonga community had asked traditional leaders to reprimand those responsible for what they regarded as an “abomination”, prompting the traditional authority to investigate the incident and determine what action should be taken.

Walenga, however, said the visiting Khomas councillors could not be held responsible if they were unaware of the restriction.

“Those ones are not to blame because they did not know. But councillors of Oshikoto know,” he said.

He argued that the Oshikoto regional councillors who accompanied the delegation should have understood the traditions governing the salt pan and advised their Khomas counterparts accordingly.

Cultural procedures

Walenga rejected suggestions that the restriction violated the Namibian Constitution, which guarantees equality before the law and prohibits discrimination based on sex.

“We are not addressing the Constitution of the Republic of Namibia. We are not claiming to be above the Constitution,” he said.

He maintained that the salt pans and the cultural procedures governing access to them predated Namibia’s independence and had not been abolished by legislation.

“That is our inheritance. No Constitution has outdone that. If there is a Constitution that has taken it away, I stand to be guided,” Walenga said.

He said the traditional authority was acting as the custodian of cultural and natural heritage within its jurisdiction, comparing the restriction to other Ondonga taboos, including the prohibition on men cooking on pomasiga, or traditional stoves.

“We are talking about heritage. It’s a taboo in our culture. I don’t remember a law which came to erase traditional and cultural norms,” he said.

The regional councils’ benchmarking exercise was intended to facilitate the exchange of experiences on governance, development challenges and project implementation. The delegation also visited the Okashana Rural Development Centre and agricultural projects at Okashana Kuukongo wa Nehale.